Shushanik Karapetyan is a New York–based Armenian-born psychotherapist, artist, and writer drawn to the experience of being human. She writes creative nonfiction and occasional magic realism exploring themes of memory, motherhood, and identity. Her current collection of paintings—rooted in her experience of becoming a mother—echoes these themes. Her work has been published in JMWW, Vines Magazine and The North Central Review. Whether through visual art or prose, Shushanik is continually inspired by the emotional landscapes we carry.
“After twenty two years, I have learned where to search for her – in the large plastic container in my closet where I keep her clothes, in the scrap of paper with her handwriting noting the titles of poems she used as a bookmark which continues to live in the pages of Vahan Terian, or in the index card that reads, “I went to the store, will be back soon,” left for me to find when I got home from school before I was allowed to have a cell phone, in a photograph, in the yarn isle of Michaels…something to anchor me to a memory of her.”
JMWW 4/2025
Shushanik Karapetyan